Bernhard Langer - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Welcome to another episode of FORE the Good of the Game. Bruce Devlin, did you ever lose the ball in competition?

Bruce Devlin 0:24

Of course I did.

Mike Gonzalez 0:25

Well, let me tell you, if you'd have had our guest on your bag when he was a young man, I don't think you ever would have, and you know why? I have no idea why. Because they called him the Adlerauge.

Bruce Devlin 0:41

Oh, the Adlerauge? What does that mean, Bernhard?

Bernhard Langer 0:47

It means "Eagle Eye". I was uh I was uh started my golf career as a caddy and uh was known to not lose any golf balls, not even in the tallest rough. And and I had a little trick. I was uh when when my player would hit in the rough, I would uh pick kind of uh something in the distance, like a tree or uh uh a cloud or something in line with where the ball went into the into the rough. And I would walk a straight line to that distance, and I knew that ball had to be within a foot of or two feet of where I was heading. So I would go a straight line there. If I didn't find it right away, I would backtrack on the right and then backtrack on the left, and it worked. Uh don't know how I came up with that, but I I found a lot of golf balls that other people might have lost.

Bruce Devlin 1:40

Well, we're sure glad that you joined us today. You have a remarkable record, two Masters victories, 120 victories around the world. Man, I've got to tell you, that is some great record, Bernard. Thanks for joining us.

Bernhard Langer 1:57

It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me, Bruce and Mike. Uh uh yeah, it's been a great blessing to play this game for this long.

Mike Gonzalez 2:05

Well, welcome. Uh we're so happy to have you, Bernard. And uh I think with the time that we have, a couple of things we'd probably like to cover with you that would be fun for our listeners. They've heard from a lot of different uh guys that played in your era and even before. And one of the things they're very interested in always is uh uh a little a little bit about uh early life as a lad, particularly learning the game. So why don't you take us back to the early days to growing up in really a non-golfing country and picking up the game at a high level?

Bernhard Langer 2:36

Yeah, that's very true, Mike. Uh nobody really knew what golf was. Uh, I think we had less than 100 courses in all of Germany. Um I was growing up in a village, about 800 people lived in the village, and the nearest golf course was five miles away. And we're uh I we come from a poor background, poor family. So when my brother, who's five years older, uh started caddy and came home with a few Deutsche marks in his pocket. Uh I was about nine years old, and I said, Man, that's cool, you're earning money. And so I said, I want to caddy too. Would you take me along? And uh initially he said, No, you're too young, you're too little, you're too short, maybe just doesn't want me around. I don't know. You know, you know how older and younger brother work at times, so but I was persistent, and eventually he said, Alright, you know, grab your bicycle, and uh we rode the five miles up there, and and my very first bag, it usually there were about eight caddies. There's a nine-hole golf course called uh the Augsburg Country Club, and uh which is near in Bavaria near Munich. And uh we were in line, so if I was number three of the caddies to arrive as number three, I would get the third player, the third bag. And as it turned out, my very first bag was the club champion. And so I carried for him. I was pushing and pulling uh trolleys, not carrying the clubs, obviously. It's as a nine-year-old, that would be too heavy. And he took an immediate liking to me and and uh said, like, uh, from now on, you gotta be my regular caddy. Whenever I show up, you gotta be my caddy no matter who else is here. And so that was fun because it's more fun caddying for handicap too than for uh handicap 32.

Mike Gonzalez 4:34

Yeah.

Bernhard Langer 4:35

Um but the most fun was really earning money. So I I always, when I told the story, I thought I I fell in love with a game of golf because of money, not because of the actual game. But uh it didn't take me long to uh love the game and respect it and started playing as a caddy. There were we were given four clubs by a member who discover who bought a new set, and he gave us four of his old clubs. They all had bamboo shafts, and it was a two-wood, a three-iron, a seven-iron, and a putter with a bent shaft. So uh now you know where my putting problems come from, right? And we we didn't have a wedge, so the most lofted club was a seven-iron, and it was a quite a hilly course with some deep bunkers as well. So I guess it taught us to be very creative with a seven iron to come out of bunkers and to hit flop shots and you know that kind of stuff. Uh so initially, as caddies, they didn't let us on the golf course right away. They said, okay, you need to learn the game a little bit. So we were able to hit on the driving range when there were not many players there, and then uh chip and put a little bit, and after a few weeks and months, if you saw your progress to a certain level, you had to ask the head professional to have a look at you, and he had to give you the okay to go on the golf course and play. Boy. And so I was able to get the thumbs up after a few weeks, and uh that was a thrill and excitement. So, you know, sometimes, like in the summer, we had six weeks off school, and we would pitch our tent so we wouldn't have to ride the bicycle there and back every day and pitch our tent there, spent the night, get up at five in the morning when the sun came up, and you know, sometimes played 27 holes before anybody showed up, uh, stuff like that. So it was it was very different, very uh un unusual in many ways, but I fell in love with the game and I enjoyed making money as a caddy.

Bruce Devlin 6:50

And uh interestingly, you are still making money of the game. And plenty of it.

Bernhard Langer 6:59

Yes, it it's been uh more than a blessing to uh you know be I uh as we get to later, I turn pro at age 18, now I'm 64. So it's been 46 years on tour non-stop, and never lost a card or anything like that. And uh it's been a lot of golf over many, many years, and uh a true blessing and a wonderful experience.

Mike Gonzalez 7:23

So, Bernhard, as uh as a young man, if you were like most of our guests that we've talked to, uh they all enjoyed and played other sports, and they felt that that prepared them well for what was to become a very solitary game in golf.

Bernhard Langer 7:39

Absolutely. I I loved all sorts of sports uh because I was good at it, I guess. I excelled in it, I was fast, I was uh I could run fast, I could throw far, I could jump high, I was able to do a lot of things well in in athleticism. My athleticism, my hand-eye coordination was uh better than most, uh, whether it was in school. So I I loved soccer. Every kid in Germany plays soccer, it seems like uh I picked up tennis at some point. Uh we played a lot of ping pong in the winter, indoors, uh, and many, many other sports, from running to jumping to throwing. It was all kind of fun. But the big thing was really soccer and skiing in the winter and then golf. And there was one time when my mother actually took me aside and said, Hey, you're gonna focus you have to focus on one sport. You can't do all this stuff all at the same time. Uh, and you know, so it came down to soccer and and golf. And um I said, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna do golf and uh play soccer just a little bit on the side. And uh, well, it was a good decision, I guess, looking back. I don't think I would have made it as a soccer player.

Bruce Devlin 8:58

So Bernard was the uh the pro at that little nine-hole course, was he the one that sort of uh set you on the path of being able to play the game so well?

Bernhard Langer 9:09

You know, I never really had a lesson, uh, Bruce, for the first five or six years of my golfing life. I just watched what other people did. And uh being young and little and short, like when we lined up, you know, at in school in class for sports, they lined up by height. So the tallest kid was here, and the shortest kid was so and I was always the last one, I was always the shortest, you know. So and anyways, being short, I figured out well, a hook goes further than a slice. Right. I could see that, so I developed a strong grip and try to draw the ball and hook it so it would go further, so I could reach some of those par fours or fives in you know, hopefully two shots, not in three, and that kind of thing. So I uh I taught myself some good things, but I also taught myself some bad things. And uh eventually when I finished my school at 15 and uh had to do something for a living, um, I went to the Institute of Job Place with my parents, and here I am, not quite 15, and the gentleman across the desk says, Well, young man, what do you want to do with your life? And uh I was watching the local pro, what he does for on a daily basis, you know, he's giving lessons, he was running a pro shop, uh, and he seems to make a living, okay. So I said, I want to become a golf professional. And the man says, What? Never heard of that before. So he excused himself for a couple minutes, left the room, came back, and says, Well, I young man, I have to disappoint you. Uh the I couldn't find any official documents on such a profession, and I highly recommend you do something decent, something different, you know. And here I am, 15, my parents left and right of me, and they're both whispering, sort of, uh, they've just both been through World War II, you know, which was probably 20 years earlier. They still had vivid memories of whatever, Germany being destroyed, and people didn't have money or or struggle to get food. So they said, well, maybe this man is right, maybe you should learn something different first, something decent, and then if you still want to be a golf professional later, you can always do that later. But um again, I was stubborn, I had my mind set on becoming a golf professional and uh convinced my parents that this is all I wanted to do. And I there was a job offer at Munich Country Club, which was an hour and a half away. A member from Augsburg Country Club where I was catting told me about it. So uh we drove over there, we met my the the head professional there, who would be my boss, and my parents liked him very much. And they said, and and is our son gonna be able to go to church on Sunday, and you know, that kind of thing, and he says, Yes. We'll let him to go to church, and he can rent a room at a little farmhouse over there, and he'll he'll be fine, I'll take care of him. Because I would move away at you know from home at age 15 and literally be on my own for weeks and weeks. Uh I didn't have a driver's license, you're not gonna get that until you're 18 in Germany. So I had uh a bicycle basically to commute from that farmhouse room to the golf course, which was about a mile. And later I bought a little mofa, moped, you know, a little uh motor-driven bicycle. You're allowed to get that when you're 16, I think. And so that the times were difficult, it was complicated, but I didn't think much of it. I wanted to be a golf professional, and this was my opportunity. And so I I loved most of the you know the things I had to do, except the first hour every morning from 8 till 9, I had to go in the pro shop and dust the pro shop, and you know, that's not something a 15-year-old wants to do, right? No, and unpack packages when new clubs came or shoes or whatever, but the rest of the time was pretty much a good time, and just learning to teach golf, learning to fix clubs, learning to run uh the Pro Shop and run tournaments and just interact with the members. Um all that was pretty good.

Bruce Devlin 13:58

No, that's quite a story.

Mike Gonzalez 14:00

You know, your situation, much different from some of our guests that have been from the UK or Spain or whatever, in that you didn't have a lot of great German golfing role models to follow. So, who were some of your earlier influences on your game?

Bernhard Langer 14:15

Yeah, I had nobody. There was really nobody on tour. Um I had very little to very few others to compare myself, and um we had about five tournaments in Germany for the teaching pros, because now I'm a teaching pro, I'm an assistant pro. And so we, my head professional played all of those, and and he took me along, so I still didn't have a driver's license. And a good friend of his, Willie Hoffman, who later became my coach for over 40 years, the three of us would play most of these tournaments in Germany that were for the teaching pros. And you know, so the only way I could compare myself against was those other teaching pros. And uh most of most of them weren't great players, uh not even good players. So I was actually very fortunate. We had a tournament at my new club now, Munich Country Club, where I was assistant pro, and 25 of the best pros came for a 36-hole event. I think I was 16, and I actually they never heard of me or whatever, and I actually ended up winning it, and I won 500 Deutsche Marks, which is nothing now. Yeah, but you know, $200, but it was a lot then, and most importantly, I realized wow, I've you know, I can beat some of these grown men. I'm 16, and they played, they played the game all their life, and here I'm you know, and then I ended up winning the German clothes championship. Uh you had to have a German passport to play that, and that's the best professionals and the best amateurs, so all the best German players in the country. And I was 17 when I won that in a playoff, and that's where I a businessman from Cologne saw me win this, and he said, Young man, if you uh ever want to play on the tour, let me know, and I might help you financially. I said, Oh, I I would love to do that, but I got another year to do in my apprenticeship, and he says, Well, let's let's talk when you're done, and we'll see if we can come to an arrangement. And we did. You know, he paid me some money every month, so it wasn't enough to survive, but it was enough to get out there, and if I supplemented with a little bit of uh winnings here and there, uh I could get along. And well, we know the rest of the story. Um, it it all worked out for good.

Bruce Devlin 16:50

Boy, I'll say what a story. Boy, that's a tough way to grow up, Bernard.

Mike Gonzalez 16:56

Yeah, it was at about age uh 16, you had an opportunity to play in an exhibition with uh uh a golfer most of our listeners would recognize.

Bernhard Langer 17:07

Yeah, you're right. That was one of my most nerve-wracking moments of my life. Uh Jack Nicholas came to Germany, and he actually, I think it was the only time he was in Germany giving an exhibition match, and they decided, and it was at Munich Country Club where I was the assistant pro. And they decided to have two of the best German amateurs play with him, and they invited me. And I had no idea why they would invite me. There would have been a hundred other guys they could have chosen, you know, and yet they decided to have the 16-year-old play with the greatest player that's ever played the game. And uh what was even more nerve-wracking for me was playing on my home course in front of all my members. Uh people all knew me. And so I had very little tournament experience because as I never I was never amateur, never played an amateur tournament, never had a handicap. As a caddy from age nine till 15, we had one tournament a year, the caddy tournament, and that was it. And now as a pro I got like five tournaments a year. So I had very little experience, and here I'm playing with Jack Nicholas in front of my home crowd, and uh it was quite the experience. I remember shanking an eight-iron, uh, which was quite embarrassing, and then uh the fifth hole was a par five dog leg left, and I hit a good drive, and then I pull hooked the three-iron and left of the green and was heading into the trees, and it was over a hill, a sort of a blind shot. So when I get down there, I'm walking left of the green, and and I see a ball on the green, and I'm going, Well, who's that on the green? And uh they all go, No, your ball is on the green. I said, Well, how do you get there? So, well, you hit this lady on the shoulder and it bounced onto the green. I went over to the lady and checked on her, and she felt good, she was fine, just a little bruise. And uh then I went on to make the eagle putting, and that was my highlight of the day. Making the eagle, but but the day was very shaky. And uh, I remember at the end of the round, I mean, Nicholas was in his prime, he hit the ball so high and so far, it was incredible. He cut dog legs where you know most humans would never even think of going those lines. But, anyways, there was a lot of media there, and at the end of the day, they asked Jack uh in the media room, they said, Well, Mr. Nicholas, what do you think about the two amateurs that you played with? And Jack said something like, Well, they actually have very good technique and they look very prominent, they they can make it a long way, and I can see why they're some of the best players in Germany, and on and on. And eventually somebody asks, Well, what about the young pro? And Jack thought for a second and he goes, Well, he's got a lot of heart. So he got that gun on you. Well, okay. So, so when I when I see Jack, I sometimes go, a lot of heart, right?

Bruce Devlin 20:36

Yeah. Well, you know something, Bernard? He was right. You do have a lot of heart, man.

Mike Gonzalez 20:44

Well, Bernard, I know a lot of our listeners, the the question on their mind as you continue to win tournament after tournament on the champions tour is you know, what's this guy's secret? And I would suspect that one of the things you'd probably credit to your longevity in terms of success at a high level would be just going back to a chance encounter you had with a South African back when you were 17 years old.

Bernhard Langer 21:11

Yeah, absolutely. Was uh one of my highlights to run into Gary Player uh at the British Open. We uh I believe Matt uh uh during a practice round, and um I was just mesmerized by this guy. He was, you know, I I hadn't had any literature and we didn't see golf on television, just golf was really non-existent in Germany. So all this I I didn't know a lot of people. I knew one player, and that was Jack Nicholas, because we had a swing sequence of Jack in our uh caddie shack where I was caddy, but but that was about all. And so here I go playing a practice round with Scary Player at the British Open, and I just uh sort of admired Gary from the very first minute, you know, he was talkative, he was interacting, he was had won everything you could possibly win already at at this age. He comes from a country South Africa where golf is not huge and and very difficult to travel around the world and had to deal with the apartheid problem and many other things. So uh Gary Player became my uh golfing idol from uh that point onward. And uh we always enjoyed each other's company and just had a had a great time uh you know, playing, interacting with each other. And to see this guy is about my size, my height, my weight, uh how good he was, and what he's achieved and where he had what he had to go through. You know, I heard stories where he traveled with his family of eight or something and had to rent four hotel rooms, and if he played in America, he had to go to Europe first because there were no non-stop flights. And it was all very complicated and difficult. And I could relate a little bit to that. So uh we became very close friends from that day onward.

Bruce Devlin 23:14

Wonderful story.

Mike Gonzalez 23:15

The the fitness aspect of what you picked up from him. Uh, you know, when we talked to Gary Bruce, um he really, I think, if I remember correctly, I think he credited Frank Stran Stranahan as a guy that uh really introduced it to him. Frank used to travel the tour back in the 40s, 50s, I think, just carrying weights in a suitcase.

Bruce Devlin 23:33

That's true. And uh interesting uh Bernard saying about Gary, uh, I had a similar experience as well, Bernhard, when I was 17 as an amateur, uh little, you know, little kid playing golf. Uh Gary came to Australia, and I played a little exhibition with him in a little town of about 150 people on the same greens, and that was that was a terrifying day for me as well. Yeah, he's been a great ambassador for the game, and so have you, sir.

Mike Gonzalez 24:10

So, Bernard, as we talked about, we're we're certainly not going to have time uh in one day to cover your uh uh immense body of work, but uh I think for our listeners it would be important to just briefly recap uh some of the accomplishments of uh uh Bernard Longer. Uh as Bruce mentioned, uh nearly 120 professional wins, including three on the PGA Tour, 42 wins on the European Tour, which ranked second to all time on the list to Steve Bayesteros, 43 PGA Tour champion wins, which uh is second as well to all time to Hale Irwin, and uh of course uh Bernhard is still chasing that one. He became the first official number one ranked player back with the establishment of the official World Golf uh World Golf Rankings. Uh one of five players who have won on every, well, I should say every continent, he won on six continents. I know Gary Plair, David Graham, uh Justin Rose, and I think uh uh Hale Irwin.

Bruce Devlin 25:10

Hale Irwin, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 25:11

Have also won on all six continents. Uh uh for some reason he didn't make it to Antarctica, but perhaps that's still in the future. I don't know.

Bernhard Langer 25:20

I doubt it, but we we'll find out.

Mike Gonzalez 25:23

Uh two times winner of the Order of Merit on the European Tour in 81-84, uh Player of the Year on the European Tour in 85 and 1993. Uh, of course, uh the two highlights that most of our uh listeners will be familiar with are the Masters wins in two in in 1985 and 1993, which we'll talk about. But before we get there, and obviously so many wins uh across the globe, as Bernhard was truly a global player. And I know you've talked about this a lot, but you came along at a really interesting time in golf in Europe because probably within just a few months of each other, there were five of you five of you that came into this world that just turned European golf upside down.

Bernhard Langer 26:07

Yeah, it was the what they called a big five in Europe and uh very, very uh unique situation. We were all born within twelve months of each other, and I guess we all know who we're talking about as Sabi Bayesteras, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Ian Wisnam and and myself. And we all ended up winning tournaments, uh major tournaments, uh across the world. We uh believe had a big impact in the Ryder Cup because of uh Europe kept losing the Ryder Cup on a regular basis uh until the mid eighties when most of us got into the prime of our careers from the say early eighties to the late nineties. And uh I think it was uh a wonderful time for European golf. Uh really elevated the European tour. It also uh I think helped we helped each other, we spurred each other on. I mean I remember vividly Savvy had already won the Masters and the British Open and I'm playing against Savy literally every other week uh on the European tour or somewhere. And I've beaten him on a number of times, and he's beaten me uh many times, but I knew I could beat him. Uh I won playoffs against him, I won tournaments when he was in the field. I kept saying, well, if if he can win majors, I should be able to win majors. And uh that belief was there and it it finally happened. I think it worked for all of us. You know, it worked for Sandy Lala that way and Ian Wislam and Nick Valdo, and and uh we all uh had tremendous success and and I think you know success reads success, winning reads winning. Uh and we had tough competition. Whenever the five of us were in a field, it wasn't easy to win that tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 28:07

Yeah. You know, uh I I'm sure uh the golf world debates and we'll debate for years and years out of those five. Uh, you know, could you pick a favorite? If you had to pick one guy in a tournament, who might you go with? Um we had a guy on yesterday, Bernhardt, on the show, that uh wanted to weigh in with his view on that. So if I can play this for you. So, Sandy, as I recall, it was Savvy that talked about you being the finest golf talent that was ever born, not Bernhard Longer, is that right?

Sandy Lyle 28:39

Well, Savvy did say that, yes. Um, that came from straight from the horse's mouth from him, which is I don't know if he'd been drinking that night or what, but it it did happen. I that's come from many sources. I wasn't there at the time when you said it. I think it was a statement to a newspaper or whatever, but um I'm still a bit embarrassed by it as well, because I mean we're all good when we're good, but to come from Sevy, as we all know, Sevy wasn't one for giving a lot of compliments to various players, uh, but he always seemed to like me and he was always truthful. I liked him. And he's come with that staying, but he said he would be second as well. So that was but Bernhard wasn't bad. Bernard was very good and still very good to this day. I mean, uh, you know, I've having in the memories of um various other tournaments in Germany and managing to beat him in a in a playoff, but uh the Ryder Cup was a big moment at Burefield, and uh the practice round was quite funny with Bernard. This is how serious he is with it with a sprinkler system. Uh, we were arguing about this certain sprinkler to the green. It wasn't very big, about the size of a biscuit tin. And uh who the caddy and I, and talking to Bernard and his caddy, what have you got from this sprinkler? And I said, Well, it's 179. And then he came up with this comment like, is that the T side of the sprinkler or the green side of the sprinkler? Ah, okay, it's he's serious. So obviously that little foot or uh 10 inches makes all the difference in his um his judgment of uh clubbing. So there's sort of memories that you remember from a Riley Cup. Other than we we did play uh Lenny Watkins and Larry Nelson, which have never lost in quite a few years uh in the Riley Cup. If it's Forsums or it's whatever, they just never lost until they met Bernard and myself, and we destroyed their record morning and afternoon. And I think uh Langer played a huge part in that. I played a little part, but I think he played a huge part.

Mike Gonzalez 30:49

We had uh Sandy on, obviously, yesterday morning, and uh he was eager to have a little fun with you, Bernard.

Bernhard Langer 30:55

Yeah, that's it's always we're we're good friends, and I uh have a lot of respect for Sandy, and I I thought he was the Iceman, the coolest guy under pressure. He never never showed any pressure, and I think that's what Savvy referred to. When Sandy was playing well, you look at him and he felt like he's playing a practice round or something, not for a major tournament, and he just would hit one perfect shot after another, make an make any putt that he looked at, it didn't matter who what it was for. And uh that was Sandy, very, very gifted. Hit the ball at tremendous distance uh in those days and still does, I think. And and just a very cool customer.

Bruce Devlin 31:41

He uh he also mentioned yesterday, Bernard, that uh you know, with all the victories that you've had on the senior tour, he said, you know what, all I ever tried to do is finish second to Bernard. That was enough money for me to make. Well, he's got a good sense of humor. He does have a great sense of humor.

Mike Gonzalez 32:02

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. That's when we're gonna be able to do it. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Outro Music 32:26

It went smack down the fairway. Mac had it as long as you're still in a straight your okay.